The subject invention relates to a method of forming a plurality of pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets from a wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket without setting up stresses in the blanket during the formation of the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets that would adversely affect the integrity of the blanket and the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets. The subject invention also relates to a method of facing the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets.
Fibrous insulation blankets, such as glass fiber insulation blankets in batt or roll form are typically used to insulate the walls, ceiling, floors and roofs of homes and other residential building structures as well as for other similar insulating applications. A pre-cut fibrous insulation blanket and, in particular, a pre-cut resilient glass fiber insulation blanket has recently been developed which contains a plurality of laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending series of cuts and separable connectors that enable the insulation blanket to be handled and installed as a unit or readily separated by hand along one of the longitudinally extending series of cuts and separable connectors into resilient blanket sections having widths less than the width of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket. These pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets enable insulation contractors to size the insulation blankets in width to insulate both standard width and narrower non-standard width building cavities formed by the framework of a building, such as external wall cavities of a residential building that are defined by the wall studs, without having to cut the insulation blankets in the field. By eliminating the need to cut the insulation blankets in the field, the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets eliminate a safety hazard associated with the use of knives or other sharp cutting implements to cut insulation blankets in the field, greatly reduce the time required to insulate such cavities, and reduce unwanted scrap. Since the majority of cavities to be insulated in a normal application have substantially standard cavity widths (nominal widths of 14xc2xd or 22xc2xd inches), standard width pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets having nominal widths of 15 or 23 inches are typically packaged with standard width conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets having nominal widths of 15 or 23 inches in a ratio of 25% to 50% pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets to 75% to 50% conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets. The conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets are used to insulate standard width and substantially standard width cavities and the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets are used to insulate both the standard width cavities and narrower cavities of substantially any width. For best results, each series of longitudinally extending cuts and separable connectors in the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets should have separable connectors that have the integrity to hold the blanket sections together for handling and installation as a unit for insulating a standard width cavity while being readily tearable or separable, without the formation of tear outs, to enable the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets to be separated along any one of the laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending cuts and separable connectors in the blanket to form insulation blanket sections of lesser widths for insulating nonstandard width cavities.
For economy of manufacture and to produce the desired ratio of standard width pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets required for packaging and distribution, a plurality of the standard width pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets can be made in an on line manufacturing operation from a resilient fibrous insulation blanket having a width several times the widths of the standard width pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the blanket. When making the plurality of pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets from the wider resilient insulation blanket, one method of forming the plurality of laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending series cuts and separable connectors for each pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket is by compression-cutting. In the compression-cutting operation, one or more portions of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket of a selected lateral width or widths are passed between a plurality of laterally spaced apart compression cutting blades and an anvil that cooperate to form a plurality of laterally spaced apart longitudinally extending series cuts and separable connectors in the blanket portion(s). However, during the formation of the plurality of laterally spaced apart series of cuts and separable connectors in the blanket portions, the blanket is subjected to extreme compression at each of the laterally spaced apart locations in the blanket portions where the compression-cutting blades and anvil are cutting the blanket. The extreme compression of these laterally spaced apart locations in the blanket portions by the compression-cutting operation, relative to the uncompressed or less compressed regions of the blanket, intermediate where the longitudinally extending series of cuts and separable connectors are being formed, set up lateral stresses in the blanket. These lateral stresses can be sufficiently great to degrade the integrity of the blanket in two ways. First the lateral stresses can pull the blanket apart at and adjacent to a major surface of the blanket and form longitudinally extending separations or cracks in the blanket. Secondly, since the randomly oriented fibers in these resilient fibrous insulation blankets predominately lie in layers oriented substantially parallel to the major surfaces of the blanket, the lateral stresses in the blanket can cause an internal delamination of these fibrous blanket layers within the blanket. Both of these conditions can adversely affect the integrity of the blanket and the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the blanket.
Compression-cutting a resilient fibrous insulation blanket to form a plurality of laterally spaced apart series of cuts and separable connectors in the blanket, such as discussed in the previous paragraph, can cause an additional problem when major surfaces of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) and the adjacent conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) are to be faced. In manufacturing operations, when being faced, the major surfaces of resilient fibrous insulation blankets are normally substantially flat or planar and stable (not in the process of recovery). This permits a facing being applied to a major surface of any of these blankets to be easily and accurately aligned with and securely bonded to the major surface of the blanket. Due to the extreme compression of the laterally spaced apart locations in the blanket portions during the compression-cutting operation discussed in the previous paragraph, the major surface of the blanket penetrated by the compression-cutting blades temporarily becomes uneven and destabilized with depressed portions separated by generally rounded elevated portions. While the resilient fibrous insulation blanket eventually recovers and the major surface later returns to its generally flat or planar state, any attempt to apply a facing to the major surface of the blanket while the blanket and the uneven and destabilized surface of the blanket is in the process of recovery presents problems. First with the surface destabilized and in the process of returning to its unstressed state, it is difficult to properly align a facing with the major surface of the blanket so that the facing will be properly positioned on the major surface of the blanket to function as an effective vapor barrier when the recovery of the blanket is complete. Secondly, with the destabilized major surface of the blanket uneven and in the process of returning to its unstressed state, the bond between the facing and the major surface of the blanket can be compromised and/or the facing can keep the surface from returning to its initial planar state thereby adversely affecting the appearance of the faced resilient fibrous insulation blanket.
The method of the subject invention solves the above-discussed problems associated with: a) forming a plurality of pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets from a wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket without setting up stresses in the blanket during the formation of the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets that would adversely affect the integrity of the blanket and the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets; and b) facing the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider blanket.
In the formation of the plurality of pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets from a wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket according to the method of the subject invention, preferably, one or more pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets and one or more conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets are made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket with the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) and the conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) alternating across the width of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket. To prevent excessive stresses from building up in the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket during the compression-cutting operation that would adversely affect the integrity of the blanket and the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket, one or more longitudinally extending stress relieving cuts that pass at least partially through and preferably, completely through the thickness of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket are made in the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket prior to the compression-cutting operation. These stress relieving cuts are made at laterally spaced apart locations intermediate lateral edges of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket which become the lateral edges of the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket. The longitudinally extending stress relieving cuts are made in a first major surface of the uncut resilient fibrous insulation blanket that also forms a first major surface of each of the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the blanket. The stress relieving cuts are made in the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket within a selected lateral distance of the compression-cuts to be subsequently made in portions the blanket to form the series of cuts and separable connectors of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) and relieve lateral stresses in the resilient fibrous insulation blankets that could adversely affect the integrity of the blanket and the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket. Where there is only a partial cut prior to compression-cutting the portions of the blanket that become the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s), the circular compression-cutting blades of the compression-cutting assembly penetrate the same major surface of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) that contains the partial cut(s) and the blanket is fully cut along the partial cut(s) prior to applying any facing to the pre-cut and conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket.
The method of the subject invention can also include facing the pre-cut fibrous insulation blanket(s) and any conventional uncut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) made from a wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket. The compression-cut blanket portions that are made into the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) are compression-cut between circular compression-cutting blades and an anvil. The compression-cutting operation forms one and typically at least two spaced apart series of longitudinally extending cuts and separable connectors in the blanket portions that become the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) and forms two and typically at least three separable resilient fibrous insulation blanket sections in each of the blanket portions that become the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets. The circular compression-cutting blades penetrate the portions of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket being made into the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blanket(s) from a first major surface of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket, the anvil supports a second major surface of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket, and the compression-cutting of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket temporarily depresses the first major surface of the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket and the pre-cut fibrous insulation blankets being made from the blanket along each series of cuts and separable connectors so that the first major surface of each of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets is temporarily destabilized and temporarily no longer substantially flat or planar.
Before the first major surfaces of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets made from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket have recovered to the substantially planar condition and become stabilized, longitudinally separable facings are applied and adhered to the second major surfaces of each of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets with the facings being longitudinally separable at each of the series of cuts and separable connectors in each of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets. By applying the facings to the second major surfaces of the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets formed from the wider resilient fibrous insulation blanket which are still planar and stabilized, the facings can be easily and precisely aligned with the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets so that the facings overlay substantially the entire major surfaces to function as a vapor barrier and are separable along each of the series of cuts and separable connectors in the pre-cut resilient fibrous insulation blankets.